Hi pelican - I certainly don't think racism in Australia (or anywhere else) is solely practised by 'whites'. As runner points out, Ken Wyatt has received hate mail from other Aboriginal people who've called him a 'coconut', while others have correctly pointed out that blatant racism is evident in non-Western countries like Japan.

However, few modern nations came into being in such a consciously racist way as Australia did at Federation, as Bill Collopy points out. Further, the penultimate Australian government had no qualms about suspending the Racial Discrimination Act in order to implement well-intentioned but paternalistic policies, and the current government has shown little inclination to reinstate it.

<< Most of the time our multi-cultural society potters along rather well. Australia has been here before and tensions diminish once second and third generation children are integrated these problems will reduce. It is difficult to create a monster out of people you go to school with, eat with and work with. >>

I agree, and I think that's a conclusion that Collopy draws as well, when he says

<< Experiences from our workplaces, schools and neighbourhoods continue to show racist behaviours shrivelling in environments of understanding and collaboration. Despite all the education and advocacy and preaching racial tolerance, Australia's multicultural experiment remains a work in progress, relationship by relationship. >>

Cheers.

I don't think it is helpful to ask whether Australia is racist. It is, however, useful to try and deal with prejudices as they arise, and especially when they are widespread.

Is there racism in Australia? Clearly. Is there enough to require action to combat it? Yes. Is it confined to people with white skins? O course not. Is there more racism than there is in New Zealand? Why would that be important?

Is racism the only kind of prejudice held by significant numbers of people? No. (I object to the use of 'we' in the article. vkcr10vixn is right.)

Useful questions:
How do prejudices get a hold? Can children be brought up so that they are less likely to fall prey to them? How are they best dealt with when they arise? What prejudices do I still have? How do I discover them and root them out?

Useless questions:
Are Australians racist?
Is racism more prevalent amongst Indigenous Australians than it is amongst the non-indigenous?

Part 1

Isn't racism defined as discriminating people based on genetic differences, different origin or culture?

Well – then the Australian Government behaves in a racist way as well.

Even immigration laws are identical for all; it doesn’t apply for all in the same way.

I have dual citizenship for Australia and Switzerland.
I am able to invite any of my European or North American friends to visit me in Australia without them facing any visa problems.
That does not work for my Asian friends with the exception of Japan.
I twice tried to sponsor my then Chinese friend to visit me in Australia and twice the visa was denied by DIMIA in 2003, while it was very easy to get a tourist visa for Switzerland.
While Swiss immigration contacts the inviting people straight way to confirm the invitation, Australian DIMIA does not.
Sure enough – the Swiss authorities also take additional steps to prevent visitors from Asia, South America.. to overstay their visa. Swiss immigration sent me a contract stating, that I am responsible for my visitors and that I have to make sure that they do not overstay their visa, otherwise I would have to pay for all administrative and deportation cost. I signed it and two weeks later my friend had a visa.

Now let’s see how it worked out in Australia:
I helped my friend to fill the forms for a tourist visa to visit me in Australia and we got a reply 3 month later:
“You could not convince the officer in charge that your intentions are genuine. We believe that your relationship to your friend in Australia is too got to go back to China” – that was the first answer.
But at the Guangzhou consulate we were told that my friend should have declared the current income. So we did and again three month later the second answer was:
“You could not convince the officer in charge that your intentions are genuine. We believe that your relationship to your family in China is not good enough to go back to China”.

Part 2

I contacted Hon Fran Bailey MP for McEwen and her lawyer promised to investigate at Amanda Vanstone’s department why the visa was denied again and her passport stamped twice DENIED.
The lawyer came back with the reply that my friend lied about caring for her son because his custody had been given to her ex-husband.
Nobody did check the facts. The consulate would have found that actually the son lived with her, because her ex-partner had gone to Thailand and had started a printing business.

Here we go – DIMIA accuses you for not having genuine intentions and in the next sentence they lie about the real reasons for denying the visa: Long live Australia’s fair go!
While on one side Amanda Vanstone and Philip Ruddock were saying on TV that immigrants should not come by boat and do it the official way, on the other side the consulates make it impossible to get even simple tourist visas!

I asked Fran Bailey’s female lawyer, why Australia would not consider to make the system fairer, similar to the Swiss system. But she said that it is easier just to apply immigration laws in a tougher way to Asian people.

I replied that this is collective punishment and racist discrimination.
Her reply was: It is easier this way.

Later I married my Chinese friend, but I needed to pay a lawyer $5000.- to get the visa for her and the kids.
Not that the racist discrimination from DIMIA since then would have stopped: Later again a visitor’s visa for one of my wife’s relatives was denied for no valid reasons.

No wonder the Australian government refuses to ratify the Human Rights Charter – we do not comply.

CJ

Some perspective please.

Non-racists elected Ken Wyatt.

Two things immediately come to mind ... there were 10's of thousands of them and they are all liberal.

CJ I think you give Collopy a bit more credit that he deserves regarding the "Australia potters along pretty well" conclusion.

If I wrote an article entitled "CJ is a racist," then spent 3 pages giving anecdotes about CJ being a racist and finally summed up by saying "CJ is a work in progress" would you conclude that the real meaning of my article was to say that "CJ potters along pretty well?"